President's Day road trip

Yesterday, I finished the tee shirt quilt and it has now gone home with another happy customer.

This is how I left things on Saturday evening. The bobbin ran out while sewing on the final border, and I was just too pooped to deal with it.

I quilted the finished top on Sunday, using the panto: Diamonds

The view from my easy chair.

The finished quilt. I added Black binding instead of stripes. They looked too busy for the quilt.

Polka dot Grunge fabric on the back.

I also started piecing a simple BQ2 project, and will get back to it later this week.

Today I went to Dahlonega and Cumming with a friend to get some backing for the quilt being pieced, as well as correct colored solid fabric to match the muslin on the two repairs I have going. My friend called and said she was looking for certain fabrics and would I like to go, too. Duh...wheels are turning and fabric shops are involved, so of course I'm going!

We hit Dahlonega first, the first customers of the day at The Common Thread. Gail found some black and whites she was looking for, as well as a few tone on tones for a new quilt she's making. I bought a yard of Kona Snow for one of the repair projects. In the sale room, I scored three nice prints I have been looking at to try some Chuck Nohara applique blocks. They all have funky backgrounds like the fabrics I found.

I can't wait to try something like this! I found the block pictures on Pinterest, and will try my own with patterns I already have.

Aren't they crazy-wonderful!?

The second shop in Dahlonega was Magical Threads, a big house made into a yarn and fabric shop. The owner is a bit quirky (braless, barefoot, and sometimes in her pajamas) but very sweet and helpful. There was a sale going on that we weren't aware of for the shop's 17th anniversary. Gail found some bargains, and I got a couple of pieces for $5 a yard! Not bad.

The shop in Cumming didn't open until 2:00, so we had a leisurely lunch at Ruby Tuesday, then a go round at Hobby Lobby. All the fabric was 30% off, so I got some more colors of muslin for repairs, and some inexpensive backing fabric for charity quilts. Gail found a mermaid wall decoration for her sun porch, and more black and white fabric. The last stop is my favorite shop, Thread Bear. It is two shops next to each other in a strip mall. The husband runs the sale, pre-cuts, wide backing, and Christmas side; and his wife runs the side with all the latest fabrics, patterns, books, threads and notions as well as the cash register! These two sides are packed with fabric of all styles. You name it...they've got it. You would be so proud of me! I only bought the backing I needed for the new quilt, and two yards of a beautiful fabric I just had to have. The backing came from the sale side and was $6 a yard. Not bad at all. 

We had a fun day, and drove back over Blood Mountain in the thick fog that had been draped over the top of the mountain all day. It was a gray, rainy day, but we saw nothing but happy faces everywhere we went. Gotta love quilt shop owners!

Back to work tomorrow after a board meeting in the morning.

Happy President's Day!